A recording method and device as defined in the preamble are known from international patent application WO 97/30440 (publication date 21 Aug. 1997). A mark is written by a sequence of write pulses and the previously written marks between the marks being written are erased by applying an erase power level in between the sequences. The known sequence has a first power level, or bias level, between the pulses and a return to the first power level after the last pulse of the sequence before rising to an erase power level.
International patent application WO 98/36411 (publication date 20 Aug. 1998) discloses an improved method which has the feature that the sequence of write pulses has a first power level, or bias level, between the pulses and a second power level, or cooling level, after the last pulse of the sequence before rising to the erase power level, the second power level being in a range between the first power level and the erase power level.
A change of the first, or bias, power level in the known methods affects both the leading-edge jitter and the trailing-edge jitter. The jitter is the standard deviation of the time differences between level transitions in the digitized read signal and the corresponding transitions in a clock signal, the time differences being normalized by the duration of one period of said clock. The method described in WO 98/36411 introduces an additional degree of freedom by making the power level during the cooling period, i.e. the period following the last pulse in a sequence and preceding the rising to the erase power level, independent of the bias power level, thus allowing the trailing-edge jitter to be influenced almost independently of the leading-edge jitter.
The known methods are suitable for direct-overwrite on a record carrier, i.e. by writing information to be recorded in the information layer of the record carrier and at the same time erasing information previously written in the information layer. The methods can be used for example, in direct-overwriting on an information layer made of a phase-change material.